Japan's farm minister Taku Eto on Monday came under fire after saying that he does not need to buy rice because he receives so much of it from supporters, at a time when soaring rice prices have squeezed households.Eto's comments, made Sunday at a fundraising party, came as his ministry moved to release rice from emergency stockpiles to help curb prices that have roughly doubled from a year earlier due to a poor harvest. Prices for the staple food remain elevated.Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who summoned Eto to his office and urged him to retract the "problematic" remarks, allowed him to …READ FULL ARTICLE